Cheap Oil & Climate Change

Now that oil prices have dropped to their lowest point in years, Conservative pundits are predicting the demise of clean, renewable sources ...

Pipeline to Oblivion

Political, corporate and public support for the Keystone Pipeline is a direct repudiation of efforts to reduce fossil fuel consumption acros...

Sorghum Season

Driving across the Great Plains today, I noticed that sorghum covered most of the crop fields, especially in central Kansas.  Native to nort...

Harnessing the Wind in Colorado

Returning to Colorado yesterday, I was pleased to see that the new wind farm section, north of I-70 between Genoa and Arriba, has progressed...

A Naturalist's Predictions for 2014

As a naturalist and as an observer of my fellow humans, I hereby make the following bold predictions for 2014: 1.  Despite widespread lip se...

The Complex Anadarko Basin

A classic structural geologic basin, such as the Michigan Basin, is essentially a bowl within the deep, Precambrian basement rock into which...

Oil & Wilderness

Yasuni National Park, in eastern Ecuador, lies on the eastern slope of the Andes in the upper Amazon Basin.  It protects one of the most bio...

The Tehachapi Range

The Tehachapi Mountains stretch for almost fifty miles across Southern California; oriented southwest to northeast, this relatively low rang...

Mixing Oil & Wetlands

Since I drive a car and heat my home, it would be hypocritical of me to renounce oil production in the U.S. or elsewhere across the globe. ...

Powder River Basin

On my recent journey through Nebraska and eastern Wyoming, I was amazed at the number of coal trains that were streaming eastward; each more...

The Cost of Oil

The price of oil has surged in recent months, producing hardships for individuals and businesses alike. The cause for this phenomenon appea...

Smoky Hills Wind Farm

On my last few trips between our Missouri and Colorado homes, I have watched a large wind farm sprout from a broad ridge in central Kansas, ...